Burn, baby, burn

Feeling a little lighter today after the last few days mammoth clearing out exercise. On Friday I took a Land Rover full of cleaned and mended stuff to the Thrift Shop to sell and on Saturday we had a barbecue (which may have escalated into a bonfire in an old oil drum...) where we 'disappeared' woozles cardboard craft creations of the last 18 months which were not inconsiderable in size! So now we have got some breathing space in the house.

This week I have also finished the habitat survey of the base (mantra: 'nothing focuses the mind like a deadline'), which has taken over a year! I am giving a presentation on it to interested individuals here in September, which really is a chance to show off some of my favourite photos.

My next projects are a couple more mosaics and putting some of our photos on canvas, but deciding which to print is so difficult. How to choose! Here are pictures of my union flag mosaic made in the spirit of the jubilee this year and a family portrait taken by a photographer at the event itself.

Last week of term here and a lot of families are disappearing back to the UK but what with our new early posting date I am hanging on and making the most of the time we have left. It's a funny old thing about the Falklands. For somewhere that perhaps is not immediately or initially appealing (at least in the visual sense), it certainly has the ability to get under one's skin. I think it is the old-fashioned sense of community and the potential for a relaxed pace of life that has done it for me, oh and the wildlife too.

Keep on movin'

Sorry there has been a long silence from us at the bottom of the world. Still snowing here every second or third day and an awful lot to do since we found out we are moving to Brunei, and sooner than expected! So packing boxes have sprung up, lists are being populated, forms rapidly sent off for housing, school, medical and so on as well as having to look into other things like vaccinations and selling or storing all the big things we won't need (snowsuit springs to mind!). We have already sold our hens as they had stopped laying with the big snowfall (see post below!) but they have gone to a good home next door.

I was lucky enough to have a night away with some Mummy friends this weekend to Bleaker Island. We stayed in a brand new luxury cottage and had a barbecue with meat from their own cattle for dinner. It was bliss to be able to relax and to walk at our own speed without any moaning or complaining. Although it is winter we saw gentoo penguins and a few other birds and I took more than a few photos altogether! We nearly got rescued on the return leg by the search & rescue helicopter as the fog had come in at the heli base but in the end the constant phone calls of the desperate husbands left to fend for themselves was enough to prompt the British International heli crew into coming for us mid-afternoon during a small window in the weather.

Dark evenings have been a great opportunity for me to do some more mosaics, so I have finished three more; another geometric style one, a penguin one and a union flag which I am hoping to sell here before we go, photos to follow. Got two more concepts which I will do if time permits. Pretty flat out with work this week as I have finished the field work for the habitat survey of the base (this has taken over 12 months to complete what with our piecemeal approach!) so hoping to get the report draft out by the weekend.

Woozles has been demanding more to eat lately so I am anticipating another growth spurt soon. Or perhaps it is because we are eating less. Managing to creep closer to target weight loss bit by bit, not helped by all the leaving dos and yummy eating fests this month but only one point to go til I hit the green BMI zone and I am quite determined.

We are planning our last few trips around the islands over the next 3 months so watch this space for our final posts on the Falklands before we swap penguins for parrots!